Gerald D'Cunha

  “Don’t leave a piece of jewelry at his house so you can go back and get it later; he may be with his real girlfriend.”   Amy Sedaris I n life, we learn some lessons the hard way. One of them is not to offer advice to any one – even our nearest and dearest ones – unless the advice is asked for. Did I say ‘even our nearest and dearest ones’? Yes, I did say. Let me be specific, here. Let’s look around us and see how some of our nearest and dearest ones blindly believe in fake news - divisive, communal, toxic and defamatory news, which is dished out, incessantly, through both mainstream and social media. When we see these dear ones of ours so addicted to this, what do we do? Initially, we try to tell them, “Honey, that’s fake news… That’s harmful… Stay away from it.” From where does our advice come? “From our concern, obviously,” we may think. But, do the other person/s think so? Chances are more, that our ‘out-of-concern advice’ may simply boomerang on us…...

  “Righteousness cannot be born until self-righteousness is dead.” Bertrand Russell   ‘C hoice’ is one of the most self-empowering words! At every step, along our life-journey, we have the need to exercise our choices… Take it or leave it. But, choices become clear to us only when we look at life with humility and compassion. The moment we play God – sit on the judgement throne – our choices do more self-harm, and, they also do harm to the society. We aren’t ‘perfect’ human beings… We have vices; we have weaknesses. Now, doesn’t this realization come from our humility? The moment it comes, it makes us compassionate towards ourselves and others… We stop condemning both ourselves and others… Life journey is a continuous journey of self-improvement. It keeps throwing up challenges before us – yes, to look at our own flaws and rectify them. Learn from our own mistakes, and become better human beings. So, when we are in such a state of grace, we rarely condemn others ...

  “Somewhere over the rainbow, Where bule birds fly… Wake up where clouds are far behind me Where trouble melts like lemon drops” From the song ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ Film: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) M any think, on reading my Blogs, that I am a strong person, who is almost always, upbeat and positive. Well, I am not. Many who know me well, also know how easily I slip into the panic mode… how anxious, worried and fearful I become, so often. I cry at the drop of the hat; I just can’t conceal my emotions… And, yes… Perhaps, this is my strength; not weakness! When a person cries his/her honest tears, I think, he comes out cleansed. When you have emptied up all your load through your tears, you find yourself in a very serene place… Today, I saw that happening… This must be my third Post about my eleventh-standard student, Shilpa*. She, her sister, both parents – were all tested Covid positive. Only her 3-year-old kid-brother was spared. Presently, all have come h...

  “Until you realize how easy it is for your mind to be manipulated, you remain the puppet of someone else’s game.” Evita Ochel A ccording to Darwin’s theory of evolution, we humans were once monkeys. In other words, we have ‘evolved’ from the position of monkeys to the position of human beings. Right? But, had Darwin lived in today’s times – I mean, among a species hooked on to the relentless information and misinformation fed to it by media of hundred kinds – I think, the great scientist, perhaps, would not have given us that conclusion… We have reduced ourselves to something worse than monkeys! And, this degeneration has come about not over a ‘million years’ as Darwin and his fellow-scientists would have concluded. Instead, it has come about within a span of just few decades… Max two or three. Add one more, if you wish. And, after the internet came in, the monkey-hood of humans got complete! The end of the world? The end of right thinking, Sir! The scary part...

  “Being grateful does not mean,   that everything is necessarily good; it just means, that you can accept it as a gift.” Roy T. Bennett L ate last night, a dear friend of mine shared a PDF file. It’s a beautifully-designed Soft-skills programme (Personality Development programme) for kids from Grades KG till 10 th . As I said, it’s a very attractive brochure, and, any parent would easily respond to it. My friend, who had shared it with me, was one my real well-wishers. His intention behind sending it to me, last night, was simple and clear: “You, too, should do something on this line during the Pandemic.” On this September 10, we (THE DAWN CLUB) completed 31 years. During these years, there was nothing, that I, along with my associates, have left undone as far as ‘Personality Development’ and ‘Soft Skills’ are concerned. We have reached out to thousands of little ones and young ones through our class-room sessions, out-door sessions, books and literature. And, t...

“A hero is a man who is afraid to run away.” English Proverb F lorence Nightingale, once, said: “I am convinced, that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls in maddening dreidel.” We humans have a huge weakness: we tend to get wooed by the larger-than-life heroes, the ones who show up wearing their impressive capes. In other words, we settle for the superheroes when it comes to inspiration, even though we know, that all heroes don’t show up wearing those impressive capes… In our blind worship towards the larger-than-life heroes, we fail to notice the real-life ones. They are there, literally, around us, and they are real. As Florence Nightingale said, these heroes are quietly engaged in their daily grind of domestic affairs… But, then, we only tend to fall for the glamorous, out-of-our-reach heroes. That’s how our weakness is embedded in our psyche… Yes, we want a Florence Nightingale only in our fantas...

  “Worry pretends to be necessary; but, it serves no useful purpose.” Eckhart Tolle   I n life, some things always remain constant. One such thing is our tendency to worry over the ‘missing planes’ in the far-away skies… and groan about kissing couples in the local gardens. We get a strange kick when we stand on the roadside and watch, holding our breaths, those endless cock-fights, the bull-fights and, yes, the Arnab Vs. Lutyens or Kangana Vs. Shiv Sena freestyle wrestlings! Today, looking at myself and my fellow-beings, I was compelled to pull out this Blog which I had posted on 25 th March, 2014… More than six-and-a-half years since that date, some things have remained – and will remain – constant… Hope, you enjoy reading about this everyday amusement… BOSS, GO AND SLEEP QUIETLY A ll of us have our ‘pet’ and ‘pests’. But, if two of my ‘pests’ are fighting, I have this tendency in me to root for that pest who I detest less. Like last night, while I was...

  “I want to change things for good; But, sometimes, for things to get better, they first have to get worse.” Becky Moynihan   S ome six months ago, when the Covid situation was still at its cradle stage – as far as our county was concerned – most of us had no hint about the kind of disruption it would cause to our lives. Now, after almost six months, when we look around us, yes, none has been spared… Life has been disrupted for each and every one of us. Those who have lost their jobs, and those who haven’t yet, yes, all of us are anxious… Governments and the armies included… The richest and the wisest included… The God-men and the nastiks included… But, then, I wonder: Whatever happened to the ‘New World Order’, that many kept prophesying about? I t’s for me to see if the world within me has started witnessing a new order. It’s futile to ask, if it has happened for others, too. The mass disruptions of any kind seldom leave our lives unchanged… This Pandemic i...

  “Believe half of what you see and nothing you read online.” Pablo Reyes N ow a days, it’s senseless to say, that we don’t watch TV news. The TV news has come inside our mobile screens. So, wittingly or unwittingly, we consume it in, like – yes, drugs.   It’s pointless to blame the media for its greed… We need to blame ourselves for our own greed… What else explains our obsession with the lives of SSR, Rhea or Kangana? By default, if I get into even two minutes of watching news about these people - on any channel, my head feels the spin and my heart behaves abnormally… And, I am 62… I am decently educated, informed, well-read and spiritual… I like to stay away from gossip and toxicity… And, despite these proud credentials of mine, if my head spins and my heart behaves abnormally, after consuming just two-minutes of TV news, via my mobile phone or laptop, imagine the state of those who are glued to it in their drawing rooms or bed rooms 24 x 7! Imagine the impact...

“Divided by politics, united by Old Monk!” I still smile recalling this status on FB by a friend of mine who was, is and will be a fierce bhak t of the government at the centre. This friend of mine is a successful professional; and, needless to say, that he has clients and professional colleagues, who either blindly prostrate before the leaders of current regime, or outright condemn them. I was unable to understand, being a successful professional, why was he inviting such extreme reactions from his clients and professional colleagues with his relentless attack on the opposition and dawn-to-dusk veneration of the regime he loved… Bad professionalism and a bad friendship! Yes, that’s how, I personally perceived this senseless public display of love and hate. There was another gentleman in the friend-list of my friend. He was a senior professional and even more successful. This gentleman hated the current regime like one hated the Ammonia smell. Every post of my friend showing his...